Can't find a boot device.

I ran a repair install on windows XP. Then I encountered this phenomena:
computer fails to boot: can't find a boot device.
BUT, if there is a windows xp disk in the CD drive, then it will boot windows as long as i don't press any key to boot from CD.

The boot.ini file looks fine. The recovery console commands fixmbr and fixboot did not solve the problem. Running another repair install with SP3 (first time was with SP2) also didn't fix the problem.

Whatever command the BIOS uses to launch the OS isn't working, but whatever command the windows CD is using does work. Any idea how to fix this?

It is a dell BIOS. The drive is detected and listed in the boot order just after the floppy drive but before the cd drive. However, there was no number next to it. I disabled fast boot and reconfigured the boot sequence so that the HD was marked as #2 and it booted fine. Re-enabling fast boot didn't hurt it and i wonder if fast boot had anything to do with it.

I disabled fast boot and reconfigured the boot sequence ...... i wonder if fast boot had anything to do with it.

Thanks for your help!

Why did you disable fast boot? Did someone, somewhere tell you to disable it? Did you just think that it might help? Could you not change the boot order with fast boot enabled? It just seems strange that you would take that action.

First, by "i wonder if fast boot had anything to do with it." I meant that i doubted it did. But, disabling fast boot never hurt anyone and it was suggested on some forum somewhere to give it a shot. So, I did. One should always try a possible solution that has no negative consequences.

Second, the problem was solved. It appears that repairing windows XP can sometimes mess up boot order, at least on a Dell Optiplex 755.